# Star Trek Theory **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155 "2004-06-25T06:44:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/21 "2004-06-25T14:40:11Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Sectors, so far as I know. > > And the Milky Way is finite. Thanks.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/22 "2004-06-25T18:41:58Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > He meant Gary Mitchell, not Marcus, and the relationship implied in the pilot was only one of friendship between Gary and the tech. > > …or am I being whooshed? D’oh! Even a typo god needs compassion! _MITCHELLLLL!_ ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/23 "2004-06-25T19:35:59Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but the original Enterprise wasn’t the flagship of the Federation, was it? I always thought it was an exploration/science vessel. And it was always “the only ship in the quadrant” beacause it was out on the frontier of human space. Most of the Federation’s ships are busy back in the heart of Federation space, like Earth or Vulcan. Way out on the edge, they only have a few ships patrolling a very, very big area. I thought of that, but in ST2 and ST5(possibly ST1), the Enterprise is STILL IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM when they are told to go somewhere, because of the “only ship in the quadrent” Hell, in ST5, The Enterprise is only half working(or so Scotty leads us to believe). ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/24 "2004-06-25T19:40:19Z")
> [@AHarris](#): > > If they only have 3 or so ships, why can’t the romulans and klingons conquer the federation quickly? Granted, the Enterprise does have insane luck, but it can only be in one place at a time. They seemed to have cleaned it up a bit by the time of TNG and DS9, so maybe it’s just the movie’s I’m complaining about. As I said, before, Starfleet’s greatest military secret is that they have been able to hide the fact that they routinely only have 3 or so ships(including the enteprise) out at any one time. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/25 "2004-06-25T20:29:22Z")
No the Federation has lots of ships out, it is just that space is, you know, big. It’s also that the Enterprise is unlucky. So of like Angela Landsbury in Murder She Wrote. Did you ever notice how where ever she went, somebody got murdered? So just when the other ten ships go out in one direction exploring that’s when the Klingon’s get uppity and Kirk had to go teach them who’s boss. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/26 "2004-06-25T20:31:25Z")
Consider Martinique during the Napoleonic Wars. The French got two ships of force there and began capturing Indiamen like crazy. The British sent a force and it was a matter of victory going to the side that could get more ships there. Perhaps the Klingons realize the Federation would get eventually y get enough ships there to kick their ass. I thought no A,B,C or bloody D, alone and of the Cruiser class made for better stories. She was more vulnerable than the latter Enterprises. Soon only Q or super duper Reman ships could threaten it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/27 "2004-06-25T20:58:10Z")
In TOS, Starfleet had twelve Constitution-class ships, but also an unspecified number of lesser vessels- scouts, cargo tugs and so forth. The semi-canonical reference works get into these in more detail. In “Balance of Terror”, the Romulans send “The Praetor’s finest flagship” to test whether the Federation can resist their new cloaking and weapons technology. The Romulan ship gets the living crap beaten out of it by Enterprise. The Romulans decide their ships are so inferior that they end up buying cruisers from the Klingons (and given that we never saw a Klingon cruiser seriously threaten, let alone defeat the Enterprise, suggests they weren’t much of a match for Starfleet ships either). The Enterprise wasn’t the only Starfleet vessel to run into constant danger; as mentioned earlier, lots of others were destroyed. Didn’t one of the movies say that Enterprise was the **only** one of the original twelve to survive it’s first five-year mission? ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/28 "2004-06-25T21:26:09Z")
This is how I justify things like this: It’s the only ship in the sector/quadrant/whatever with the ability to address the situation appropriately. There may be a whole mess of other ships around, but only the Enterprise has the firepower, etc. to deal with the situation appropriately. Granted, it’s a writers trick, but I like to justify things like this in my mind. I had heard also that the Enterprise was the only 1 of the 12 to survive the 5 year mission, but I thought I read it somewhere, not in a movie. Do we have the names of all 12 ships? 1. Enterprise 2. Omega (From Omega Glory, not sure if that was the name of the ship, all the people turned to crystals) 3. Lexington (in the Daystrom’s computer takes over for Kirk episode. What were the other ships?) 4. Intrepid (Was this in an episode?) 5. Congo (listed below, I’ve never heard of this name being used…) 6. What was the name of the ship they were investigating in Tholian Web? ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/29 "2004-06-25T21:33:27Z")
Note to self. Do a search before asking a question like that. Here are the 12 ships: Constellation (NCC-1017) Constitution (NCC-1700) Defiant (NCC-1764) Eagle (NCC-956) Endeavour (NCC-1895) Enterprise (NCC-1701) Essex (NCC-1697) Excalibur (NCC-1664) Exeter (NCC-1672) Hood (NCC-1703) Intrepid (NCC-1831) Lexington (NCC-1709) Potemkin (NCC-1657) Republic (NCC-1371) Yorktown (NCC-1717) ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/30 "2004-06-25T21:33:53Z")
I think the more important question is: How come Kirk never had to go to the bathroom? ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/31 "2004-06-25T21:34:31Z")
Except that list has 15 ships. Okay. Me shut up now. ---
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/32 "2004-06-25T22:02:41Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > In “Balance of Terror”, the Romulans send “The Praetor’s finest flagship” to test whether the Federation can resist their new cloaking and weapons technology. The Romulan ship gets the living crap beaten out of it by Enterprise. The Romulans decide their ships are so inferior that they end up buying cruisers from the Klingons (and given that we never saw a Klingon cruiser seriously threaten, let alone defeat the Enterprise, suggests they weren’t much of a match for Starfleet ships either). So if I have 3 really good ships and you have 20 sorta crappy ships, and my 3 ships can can blow your 20 ships to pieces, why do I need more than 3 ships? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/33 "2004-06-26T02:26:34Z")
> [@Hugh Jass](#): > > Except that list has 15 ships. Okay. Me shut up now. Checking [ditl.org](http://ditl.org), all fifteen of those ships are listed so I am assuming that they’re all canon and three more were produced after the TOS years. For what it’s worth, I’ve never heard of the Eagle and the Constitution might just be them assuming the ship class was named after the first ship of that design. Everything else looks familiar though. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/34 "2004-06-26T02:32:22Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Want a cool space battle? Suddenly people are pulling starships out of their shorts. Whch would chafe something _awful_. Ever since _Star Wars_, every spaceship seen on screen (in _Trek_ or elsewhere) has had all sorts of rough, angular projections sticking out of it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/35 "2004-06-26T03:18:02Z")
Mrs. Plant’s _Star Trek Concordance_: “Kirk once remarked there were only twelve starships like Enterprise in the fleet”. Does that indicate that there are other starships in the fleet unlike Enterprise? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155/36 "2004-06-26T03:22:28Z")
It could mean other starship classes or, as I stated previously, just different kind of vessels altogether. It probably takes a ton of fuel to travel interstellar distances but not so much to take a quick jaunt around the Solar System, for example. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-theory/252155.md?page=1)